Market Reports

Weekly Statshot

Do your photos in MLS promote your seller’s interests?

posted: 03/11/2019

Sellers hire you to bring a buyer to the property. If your photos don’t entice a buyer to make an appointment to see it, you might not be promoting the seller’s interest (Article 1 of the Code of Ethics). Take a moment and review your photos from your seller’s perspective asking yourself, “Do my photos make someone want to see the property?”

Some tips for promoting your seller’s interests:

If the property is not photo-ready at the time of listing, but you want to get it into MLS timely, take one photo of the best feature of the property to upload to MLS until you can get good photos of the rest.

If the beds are unmade, don’t take the photo

If the bathrooms are trashed, don’t take the photo

If someone else takes the photos of your listings, review the photos before uploading to MLS.

Show the seller how his property is being represented on public websites

Know that buyers view photos of listings on public websites very seriously. If your photos show an unkempt property, chances are the buyer will move on to another listing

On the other hand, while a buyer might not be turned off and still agree to see a property with photos of an unkempt room, they might not be willing to offer their best price.

You only have one chance to make a good first impression with your listing’s photos. You were hired to make that good impression.

And speaking of making a good impression, make a point of checking that your "For Sale" signs routinely to catch signs that have fallen due to weather. A sign that has been on the ground for weeks doesn’t leave a good impression on the brokerage.